"Four years after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Japan in August 1945, the Soviet Union detonated its first nuclear device. The United Kingdom (1952), France (1960), and China (1964) followed. Seeking to prevent the nuclear weapon ranks from expanding further, the United States and other like-minded states negotiated the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968. In the decades since, several states have abandoned nuclear weapons programs, but others have defied the NPT. India, Israel, and Pakistan have never signed the treaty and possess nuclear arsenals. Iraq began a secret nuclear program under Saddam Hussein before the 1991 Persian Gulf War. North Korea claims to have nuclear weapons and announced its withdrawal from the NPT in January 2003."

Status of Nuclear Countries & Their Nuclear Capabilities (data as of 01 January 2005)

US

Russia

United Kingdom

France

China

Israel

India

Pakistan

North Korea

Weapons

Stockpile

10,640

16,000

200

350

?400

200

110-150

75

~13

Deliverable

6,390

3,242

200

350

~325

200

110

75

~13

As the knowledge of nuclear technology grows everyday, the efforts taken to
restrict the use of this information also grow. Fueled by the fear of a nuclear
holocaust, international committees the United Nations drafted the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) of 1968, which seeks to restrict and control the use and possession
of nuclear arms. According to the treaty, there only exist five states that
are legally permitted to own nuclear weapons: the US, the United Kingdom, Russia,
China, and France.

But the Treaty could not prevent other nations to develop their own nuclear
programs and to build and test their own weapons. India and Pakistan have conducted
nuclear tests, and North Korea has publicly declared itself to be in possession
of nuclear weapons. Israel, Iran, and Ukraine are among others who are suspected
of possession. North Korea has yet to prove their claim, and they have not conducted
any confirmed tests. Israel is suspected to be in possession, and South Africa
have long since dismantled their nuclear program.

Aside from the declared nations and the suspected nations, there are still
many more nations who have had nuclear weapon programs in the past, but are
no longer actively developing or in possession of nuclear arms. Countries who
previously had nuclear programs are Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Egypt,
Germany, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Libya, Poland, Romania, South Africa, South
Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Yugoslavia. Countries who have not had
such programs but possesses the technology and arms to develop nuclear weapons
include Canada, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Saudi Arabia.